Technical Data Architect
- Senior Data Architecture role at a fast-growing international fintech scale-up
- Hands-on AWS platform work across real-time pipelines, Redshift, Glue and modern data stacks
- Belfast, hybrid (2 days in office)
- Salary £70,000 to £80,000
- UK work authorisation required
About the Company
Our client is a Belfast-based fintech scale-up operating across 15 countries in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, powering award-winning loyalty and commerce media platforms for some of the world's most recognised brands. Their cloud-based platform processes significant transaction volumes and has returned over $1 billion in cashback rewards to consumers worldwide. Recently named among the UK's fastest-growing tech scale-ups, this is a business with genuine momentum and a data platform at its commercial core.
The Role
This is a senior, hands-on Data Architecture position for someone who can design scalable, secure and future-proof data platforms and then roll up their sleeves and build them. You will define data models, integration patterns and governance frameworks across cloud and hybrid environments, working closely with engineering, analytics and business teams to translate strategic objectives into robust technical solutions. The ideal candidate brings deep AWS expertise, strong data engineering instincts and the communication skills to lead architectural thinking across a cross-functional organisation.
Key Responsibilities
- Develop enterprise-wide data architecture strategies aligned with business and technical objectives
- Define and maintain conceptual, logical and physical data models across multiple domains
- Design, build and optimise data platforms leveraging AWS and hybrid cloud environments, including Redshift, Glue, EMR and S3
- Implement real-time and batch processing pipelines using modern data engineering frameworks including Spark, Kafka and dbt
- Create data flow diagrams, integration patterns and canonical models to support consistent, scalable data delivery
- Define and enforce data governance standards including metadata management, data lineage and data quality
- Ensure compliance with regulatory frameworks including GDPR
- Implement encryption, key management and security best practices across all data platforms
- Provide architectural guidance, technical leadership and mentorship to data engineering teams
- Evaluate new technologies and recommend solutions that enhance performance, scalability and cost efficiency
What You'll Need
Essential:
- Strong expertise in data modelling, database design and architecting conceptual, logical and physical models
- Hands-on experience building and optimising ETL and ELT pipelines at scale
- Deep practical knowledge of AWS data services including Redshift, Glue, EMR, Kinesis and S3
- Experience with modern data engineering tools such as dbt, Spark or Flink
- Proven experience with SQL and NoSQL databases including PostgreSQL, MySQL and DynamoDB
- Knowledge of data governance frameworks and tools including metadata management and data lineage
- Strong understanding of performance optimisation techniques including partitioning, indexing and query tuning
- Excellent communication skills with the ability to articulate complex architectures to technical and non-technical audiences
- Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Data Engineering, Information Systems or a related field
Desirable:
- Experience with GCP data services including BigQuery and Pub/Sub
- Experience with streaming technologies such as Kafka or Confluent
- Familiarity with encryption standards and key management solutions including AES-256, TLS and KMS
- Relevant cloud certifications such as AWS Certified Data Analytics or Google Professional Data Engineer
- Experience working in fintech, financial services or high-transaction volume environments
Why Apply?
- Salary of £70,000 to £80,000
- Employee share scheme
- Private healthcare, critical illness cover, life insurance, dental and optical cover
- 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays, with the ability to buy, sell and bank additional days
- Hybrid working with a Belfast city centre base
- Fast-growing, internationally recognised fintech with real commercial scale behind it
- Collaborative, values-driven culture with an active social committee and regular company events
Interested?
For a confidential conversation about this opportunity, connect with Justin Donaldson on LinkedIn or submit your CV via the link below.